CHICAGO, Ill. - The Cleveland State men's soccer team won its regular season finale on Friday night, 1-0 at UIC. The win hands the Flames their first league loss of the season and moves the Vikings to 4-0-1 in their last five Horizon League contests.
The Vikings improved to 8-7-2 (4-3-2) while the Flames fell to 9-5-3 (6-1-2). The result also secures a spot for CSU in the Horizon League tournament. The Vikings earned the fourth seed in the tournament and now will host fifth-seeded Detroit on Monday night at 7:00 p.m. at Krenzler Field.
Eerily similar to the Vikings' 2012 Horizon League Championship season, the team's early struggles may have given many teams an excuse to lay down and give up. For CSU, the adversity was just the boost they needed.
Sitting at 3-6-1 and down 3-2 late at Oakland (Oct. 10), the Vikings completed a seemingly improbable overtime win, 4-3, which now looks to have began their momentum into the final stretch of the season.
Fast forward to now. The Vikings have won five of their last seven and even more impressive, the team has given up just one goal since that October 10 showdown with Oakland.
Tonight, the game played out much like the season. Though the Flames led in nearly every category (shots 21-4, corner kick's 12-3, shots on goal 7-1), the Vikings stuck to their gritty gameplan and got the only shot they needed to find the back of the net. At the 32:59 mark, Jake Lagania hit Kevin Blackwood in the box and Blackwood's finish gave the Vikings the 1-0 lead.
The eventual game-winner was Blackwood's first of the season, which could not have come at a better time. Lagania's assist was his fifth on the year, moving his points total to 15.
Though the Flames continued to fire shots in the second half, the CSU defense once again bent but never broke. Aleksandar Drobac moved to 6-3-2 on the year in goal, registering seven huge saves in tonight's contest. The strong defense in front of him: Sergio Manesio, Mustafa Raychouni, Kareem Banton and James Milli.
Blackwood led the Vikings with two shots while Lagania and Hesham Hammouda added one apiece. Victor Zamora, Dan Koniarczyk and Alec Nagucki held down the middle for CSU while Gianluca DiFranco and Antonio Burgoa provided solid depth off the bench.
The No. 4 Vikings return to Krenzler Field on Monday night (Nov. 9) to host No. 5 Detroit in the first round of the Horizon League tournament. The winner will move on to the Horizon League semifinals on Thursday (Nov. 12) in Chicago.
